A Midsummer Night's Rave is a 2002 American film adapted from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream released on November 1, 2002. The film stars Corey Pearson, Lauren German, Andrew Keegan, Chad Lindberg, and Sunny Mabrey; and was directed by Gil Cates Jr. It is set at a rave, rather than the forest where most of the original is set. The film received little attention from professional movie critics, but is considered a success with teen audiences, and has been used as an exemplar for a category of movies (the "McShakespeare", an example of McDonaldization) in more academic publications. Plot and setting A Midsummer Night's Rave transposes A Midsummer Night's Dream to modern rave culture. Unlike Rave Macbeth—released a year earlier and also adapting a Shakespeare play, Macbeth, into the context of rave culture—A Midsummer Night's Rave's plot also explores the characters' activities outside of the rave: Xander (Andrew Keegan) and Mia (Sunny Mabrey) needs the aid of a rave and a green glowing drug, provided by a British mystic, O. B. John (Jason Carter), to admit their love for each other; a drug dealer, apparently modelled on Shylock, named Doc wants his stolen drug money; and Nick (Chad Lindberg) dons a donkey costume at a daycare center. The plot is significantly altered from the original to "accommodate a homosexual relationship and to allow one liberated woman, Elena (Lauren German), to reject her callow lover." Reception Among the few professional reviews is Joe Leydon's for Variety in 2003. The review is generally negative, but highlights some actor performances and the directorial choice to omit the original Shakespearean dialog. Overall he thinks it "... plays less like witty romantic comedy than a watered-down (and dumbed-down) version of ...Go. [The director] goes for cheap laughs by encouraging actors to chew on the scenery—and each other—without worrying about such niceties as narrative logic and character consistency." His summary of its viability as a film is that "[it] isn't likely to be a fave-rave with critics or auds." Mark Jenkins, in a review for the Washington City Paper, sums it up as: "Although rendered in suitably neon hues, the movie is not a visual triumph; its low-budget seams show, and an attempt at a Trainspotting-like aside is weak. The film's principal virtues are its attractive cast, sprightly pace, thumping soundtrack, and happy-face take on young romance. The love drug is not required for viewing, but